Avery rolled onto her back and floated in the water. She looked up through the opening in the ceiling of the cave. The stars were beginning to come out. The walls of the cave glowed with lustrous colors.

“This is so beautiful. You were right. It is magical,” she murmured.

Core treaded water next to her. She could feel his eyes on her instead of the cave. She lowered her legs and turned toward him. Winding her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, she let him keep both of them afloat.

“I could watch you all day long, every day, as you learn more about my world, and never grow tired of seeing the joy reflected in your eyes,” he said.

Avery’s throat tightened with emotion. She slid her hands up and cupped his face. For a moment, she did nothing more. She wanted to burn the vision of him in her mind; his wet hair in disarray from their swim, his strong face relaxed, and his silver-colored eyes burning with the familiar flames of desire and another emotion she was afraid to attach a name to.

She caressed his bottom lip with her thumb, then slowly leaned forward and gently pressed her lips to his. This time the emotion behind the kiss was not raw passion but something deeper. It felt bittersweet.

He parted his lips and they deepened the kiss, forgetting the world around them. For just a moment, time stood still. There was no past, no future—just this one moment in time where they were together.

Avery closed her eyes and tried to hold onto the strange emotions overwhelming her. In her mind, she could see a web of delicately thin silver threads piercing the wall of ice she kept around her heart. It felt warm and safe. She opened her eyes and looked into his mesmerizing ones for a long moment. Then she leaned forward and pressed her cheek to his.

Don’t fall in love with me. Please don’t fall in love with me, she silently begged.

He tightened his arms around her and held her as if he would never let her go. They remained like that for several minutes before he loosened his arms and released her. They swam back to the shallow end of the pool and she threaded her fingers through his.

“You know, I think I’ve spent more time these past couple of days getting dressed and undressed than I ever have in the past year!” she softly laughed as she bent over to pick up a towel.

“I would be very happy if you wanted to forgo the getting dressed part,” he teased.

“Funny, I was thinking the same thing about you,” she retorted.

She ran an appreciative gaze over Core’s muscular form. Damn if the man didn’t make her want to permanently give up wearing clothes. His low rumbling growl and obvious physical response, which was growing harder right before her eyes, told her that he was well aware of her thoughts.

Ten minutes later, she was wrapping her arms around Core’s waist and leaning against his back as he drove the glider back through the forest toward his home. She pressed her cheek against his shoulder and sighed deeply in contentment. The forest was as beautiful at night as it was during the day. Several times she swore she caught a glimpse of something moving in the shadows.

“There are many different beasts that live within the forest. They know to stay away if they wish to live another day,” Core explained over the hum of the glider.

She rested her chin on his shoulder. “You’re in my head again. I can feel you there, you know,” she dryly observed.

He shook with silent laughter. “Do you want to feel more of me?” he challenged.

She reached down between his legs and squeezed. His laughter echoed through the night, drowning out the other sounds with its rich tone. She smiled and held him tight.

It didn’t take them nearly as long as she’d thought it would to return to Core’s home. She reluctantly released her hold on him as they came to a stop, and she dismounted the glider, then picked up the things they had carried with them on their adventures today.

Core activated the shield over the glider and took some of the items from her grasp. They walked over to the entrance, and she looked up when he held her hand.

“I had a wonderful day,” she said.

He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “There is much more to show you. We have many beautiful cities here, and while my village has been quiet, tomorrow most of the residents will return. I’ve become spoiled the last two days having it and you to myself,” he replied.

He released her hand and activated the lift. She didn’t reply to his unspoken desire that she stay much longer. There was no way she could remain. She already knew this had been a mistake.

Her plan to get Core out of her system while keeping her emotions under control had been a miserable failure. She didn’t think she would ever get enough of him, and she didn’t want to think about the pain she would inevitably feel when she left. She was emotionally invested—after a lifetime of fighting attachment to anything and anyone.

“Why don’t we shower, then prepare some dinner?” he suggested.

She nodded. “I’ll take these up and put them in the cleansing unit,” she said.

“I’ll be there in a moment,” he added with a grin.

Avery stepped to the side when the doors opened and watched as he walked out of the lift and onto the main level. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall when the doors closed behind him. This was going to be so much harder than she’d expected.

She opened her eyes when the doors opened again, this time on the top floor. Stepping out of the lift, she turned to the right and headed for the cleansing room. Inside, she opened the alien version of a washer/dryer combo and dropped their damp clothing and towels inside. She quickly stripped out of her clothes and placed them inside as well, then she walked toward the shower.

Warm jets of water automatically turned on when she stepped inside. She bowed her head as the water flowed over her, and slowly opened her hand to study the intricate circles in the center of her palm.

Cosmos had warned her, but she hadn’t believed him. She carefully traced the pattern. The center of her palm grew warm and for a moment she thought she could see the glimmer of silver threads reaching toward the door of the cleansing room.

She blinked and looked up when she heard Core enter the room. He had already removed his clothes and was dropping them into the cleansing unit. He shut the compartment and activated the unit, but his eyes were on her.

She daringly caressed the mark on her palm as she looked into his intense silver eyes, trembling at his reaction to her. Physically, he was hard and ready and magnificent, but it was his mental reaction to her caress that shook her the most.

“You can’t continue to ignore our connection, Avery,” he murmured as he stepped into the shower with her.

Avery pressed her fingers against his lips. She didn’t want to talk. She didn’t want to try to understand everything that was happening—tomorrow would come all too soon. Tomorrow would be their last day together.

He shook his head back and forth ever so slightly beneath her touch. She moved her finger away from his lips to caress his cheek, and slid her other hand up his arm. Her breath caught when his calloused hands moved over her wet skin and drew her close.

Their kiss held the same passion it had the last two days, but it also tasted of desperation and despair. She felt his swift denial as it swept through her mind, and she parted her lips under the pressure of his kiss.

Open your mind to me.

Avery stiffened for a moment before she acquiesced to his demand. Opening her mind to him was easier than she’d expected. In some ways, the thought of being able to communicate with another person like this was terrifying; but, at the same time, it was exhilarating.

Feel me. See me. Touch me, he encouraged as he deepened their kiss.

Core tightened his arms around Avery when he felt her relax the tight control she kept over her mind. He swore she had more self-discipline than any of the fiercest warriors he had ever known. Even though she was lowering her protective walls, he could sense there was a part of herself that she continued to hide. He ended their kiss, pulling back and resting his forehead against hers. Her eyes were closed, and her mind was filled with only the things she wanted to share.

Memories slowly opened to him. He saw fuzzy, bright glimpses of the humans he had met when he was on Earth. He closed his eyes and focused. The images became clear. He saw members of Cosmos’ team and felt the pride Avery had in their determination to make their world a better place.

She had created a mental structure like a stage with these memories in the spotlight, but just outside that light he could sense, just barely, a darker side of her life, a place where she moved like a ghost, unable to touch and afraid to be touched.

He gently traced the thin scar along her left hip where a bullet had grazed her, and another along her shoulder caused by a knife. The brief flash of a young girl’s smile and an explosion of pain made him drop his hand to the long scar along her abdomen.

The memory disappeared, and his connection with her was lost when she suddenly captured his lips with her own. She threaded her hands through his wet hair and kissed him as if she would never stop.

Core could taste her need to distract him. He cupped her buttocks in his hands, lifted her, and pressed her back against the smooth wall of the shower. She wrapped her long legs around his waist and dug her heels into his ass.

He lowered her slightly and slowly impaled her, instinctively rocking his hips as she used her grip on him, the power of her legs, and the slick surface of the wall to ride him. They broke apart, their breathing loud in the confines of the shower. The warm water made their bodies slide against each other.

The tingle of an orgasm was building at the base of his spine. His grip tightened on her thighs. A low curse slipped from him, and he gritted his teeth in an effort to hold back his orgasm until he brought her release. The ecstasy of her channel stroking the full length of his cock was torture.

Connect with me, she demanded, staring into his eyes.

His mind surged into hers, stroking her with that intimate caress he’d never had with anyone else and never would. His eyelids drooped as he felt what she felt. She was holding back her release, wanting to draw out every last second.

She pushed the pleasure she felt into him, and he shuddered as he felt the full force of it, his mind expanding to give her all of his own pleasure as they made love. He could feel how the coarse hair on his chest teased her nipples until they were hard as pebbles. He could feel the slight sting of the heated water hitting them, but it was her response to his cock, stroking deep inside her that had him thrusting into her hard enough that he swore they were no longer two people but one. Her loud cries echoed in the cleansing room.

Sweet Goddess, Avery, he groaned.

His teeth lengthened. He could taste the chemical his body produced to increase his mate’s desire. She leaned forward and ran her tongue along his teeth, and Core parted his lips, emitting a loud, deep growl in response.

The slight taste of copper filled his senses, and he knew that his razor-sharp teeth had cut her. The wound would heal almost instantly thanks to his saliva, but it was enough to send him over the edge.

He pushed up inside her as far as he could go, bent his head, and bit her, piercing the soft flesh along the column of her neck. She screamed in white hot pleasure and stiffened in his arms. He held her immobilized while he rocked his hips harder and faster. They were locked together in mind and body, their hearts frantically beating as one, their emotions and physical excitement surging unfettered between them, exponentially magnifying what they each felt.

“Core… Yes, now…. Yesssss…” Avery moaned as her control shattered and her inner muscles greedily clutched his shaft. Core relished the intensity of Avery’s release, and as her tight sheath clamped down around his cock, the tingling that had started earlier spread until his whole body burned with it.

In pulsing waves, he gave his seed to her. He pulled his teeth from her flesh and tilted his head back. A hoarse cry was ripped from his throat when the wave crested, and he ground his hips against her.

He held Avery tightly to him and pressed her back against the wall. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, and her head rested against his shoulder.

They stayed locked together for several minutes before he carefully withdrew from her, and she lowered her feet to the floor. Even then, they clung to each other to keep from melting to the floor of the shower as their legs threatened to give out.

“I think we’re getting to the mindless, endless part of the weekend,” she murmured against his flesh.

He chuckled at the sound of exhaustion in her voice. Turning his head, he pressed a kiss to the top of her wet hair before he gently tilted her head back. She closed her eyes to keep the water out of them. He leaned down and brushed another kiss across her lips.

“Let me wash you,” he murmured.

Her lips twitched, and she nodded. “Go right ahead. I honestly don’t think I have the strength to do it myself at the moment,” she replied.

“For once, I have you completely under my control,” he teased.

Her eyelids fluttered, and she lowered her head far enough to give him an amused look and a raised eyebrow. Her lips quirked suddenly and her eyes sparkled before she retorted, “Hardly. You might have noticed you’re the one catering to me, not the other way around. The way I see it, I have you under my control,” she announced with a royal wave of her hand.

He chuckled, picked up the washcloth and soap, and knelt in front of her. “Then I bow at your feet, my lady,” he acquiesced.

She gasped as he tenderly moved the rough, soapy washcloth over her sensitive labia and clit. “Damn, but I could get used to this,” she moaned.

I could as well. It does not have to end tomorrow, Avery. This could be the beginning, he silently replied.

He knew she’d heard him, but she refused to respond. Someday she would, though—when she was ready. Now that she had opened to him, he would always be a faint presence in her mind. He privately swore he would not make her regret giving him a way in, but he was not going to let her shut him out again either. The agreed upon three days were just the beginning; he was sure of it.